"Flour" always refers to all-purpose flour, and the quantities for flour are always given after sifting. "Brown sugar" is dark brown sugar, and is measured hand-packed. There's no need to keep light brown sugar in the house, because one can always fake it by using a mixture of white and dark brown sugar. The only kind of light brown sugar I ever use is Demerara sugar, because I like its special aroma and the crystals are pretty to look at.

At the moment, "coconut milk" means the liquid one gets when one cooks coconut pulp in water; I usually buy it canned. If I ever start to cook with the liquid inside coconuts, I'll worry about the name problem then.

Some of my recipes use metric measurements, because that is what's most common where I live at the moment. Some use English measurements, for many reasons. Some use both. I hope that this doesn't bother anyone.

Most of the recipes here should make about ten portions. There are eight of us, but we like to eat. Julia Child says that this is quantity cooking. So be it.

A note about authenticity: You won't find it here. I care about how my food looks, and how it tastes, and its texture and aroma. I couldn't care less whether a person from the culture associated with it would recognize and approve of the ingredients and the methods. Everyone has his little quirks.